Isle of Wight

Whippingham Church

St Mildred's Church, Whippingham, is closely associated with Osborne House, and within it is the Battenberg Chapel. Queen Victoria made it into a shrine on the death of Prince Henry of Battenberg. The Prince was married in the church on 23rd July 1885 to Princess Beatrice, the Queen's ninth and longest surviving child. He was the 3rd son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and Rhine, and his wife Countess Julia von Hauke. Prince Henry contracted malaria while campaigning on the Gold Coast in the Ashanti war, and died at the age of 38 in 1896. The Prince lies in a huge marble sarcophagus surmounted by a sword, and in August 1945 his widow, Beatrice, was buried there with him. During WW1 there was a lot of anti-German feeling, and King George V anglicised Royal names, "Battenberg" becoming "Mountbatten".

Two angels carved by Robert Edward Cecil Fouracre Glassby (1872-1908) sit in recesses behind the altar and on either side of the stained glass window in the Battenberg chapel.

St Mildred's Church, Whippingham

Admiral of The Fleet
Louis Alexander Mountbatten
Marquess of Milford Haven
Prince Louis of Battenberg
Borm May 24th 1854
Died September 11th 1921
and His Wife
Victoria
Princess of Hesse and By Rhine
Born April 5th 1863
Died September 24th 1950